After 30 years of Marriage

I decided that I needed to sleep in the guest room Friday night.

Typically Michelle, my wife of 30 years, and I sleep in the same bed but unfortunately she did something that I decided made it impossible for me to join her in the bed.

Now some of you are thinking that a wise married man will resolve all issues prior to hitting the pillow and if I were wise I would do the same. I get that but I'm pretty good at figuring things out and decided it just wasn't worth the risk.

You see, Friday night my wife turned into a 15 year old and took me on a date to the Taylor Swift concert. Granted she dressed all wrong (apparently) because all the other 15 year old girls that were there were pretty much dressed the same so she looked different (actually much better but that's another story) but she joined the other teeny boppers in her mannerisms as she approached the event.

She laughed when they laughted, she cried when they cried and when they screamed...well - even at 15 I'm not sure she could do that, but she liked it just the same.

So after spending an evening out with a 15 year old date I'm not going to break any of those statutary rules by sleeping with the young lady. Fortunately next month she's going to turn back into a 50 year old and take me to see Reba (and nobody will arrest me for staying out to the guest room after our date that night).

Picture of the Day

This is the one from Saturday. It amused me becasue the side of the dragster says "Smokeless but looking at the tires you could make an argument that it isn't really true...

Picture of the Day - Day 6

Day Six - Brazilian Casual

The title couldn't possibly represent the panic I felt. It was dark. My feet were contorted into a shape that most resembled an upside down "U". The top of my head was pressed against a hard wooden surface and my left arm had no feeling and wouldn't respond when I tried to lift it.

That was scary - but not scary enough for panic.

Swinging my shoulders I got my arm to flop into a new position. I lifted my knees which eased the pressure on my head and allowed my feet to asume the letter "L" (much better than "U"). I paused and concentrated -- yes, it was still there (and my panic grew)

As my brain began to function better I rolled to the left. My feet returned to a human shape and my head could even be described as comfortable but the panic did not reside becasue it was still there. My environment was pitch black but I was fully concious and the presence was unmistakable. I wanted to scream but I focused every ounce of my dicipline and restrained myself. Perhaps screaming would still be inappropriate. I concentrated again.

I was right. There was no mistaking it. It was everywhere and now I knew is wasn't a dream.

Silence.

My hotel room was quiet.

My mind was racing. "What have they done with my sister? She can't be here sleeping, the silence proves it..."

Meanwhile, unknown to me because of the dark, Loretta was a scant 2 meters away in the other bed. Two thirds of the fancy Marriott pillow was in her mouth and she was happily dreaming that she was eating a giant marshmello. Unfortunately there was no way I could have known what was really happening.

I jumped to my feet to investigate just as a giant "Pauaguah!" sound erupted from the darkness. A soggy pillow hit my feet and a diesel engine started to idle in the darkness.

All was well in Brazil. I climbed back in my tiny bed and went back to sleep.

A few hours later day 6 continued with the standard morning ritual of showers, breakfast and waiting for the kids. When they got here we packed up and headed for the beach.

First Cassandra went in and played with the waves, then she came out. We got some pictures of her in the waves.

Next I went in, played with the waves some

After I got done we all sat on the beach for a while (I read my book). Eventually Shane picked up the boogie board and went in to play with it a bit.

Shane seemed to have quite a knack for the sport and typically when he rode the board he ended up completely leaving the ocean and sitting out in the sand near the volleyball court.

After 3 hour (or so) on the beach we cleaned up, loaded the pictue of the day, and headed for town where we ate our last meal of Brazilian BBQ.

It was supposed to rain all day today but we got lucky and we had a good result.

Day Five - Reo Under Water

The day started with the Cowboys leading the Giants in a rendition of Sunday night football. Earlier Shane was on his little blackberry running around the web finding about satellite feeds coming into Brazil with a sense of urgency. By 7 pm yesterday (or so) he was sure he could get the game but he swapped out all the programed channels on the bigscreen in the Executive lounge and the game wasn't still there.

"I need to go up to your room to get this working" -- I'm pretty sure that was his cover. He disappeared and I have visions of him on the roof with a soddering iron re-working all the circuit boards on the hotel's satellite dish then crawling down the side of the building spider man style so he could splice that cable that you can only get to by hanging upside down between the 17th and 18th floor.

Whatever it was he was back in the lounge a little after nine looking like the cat that ate the cannary (and the chocolate from my pillow) and 10 minutes after that we were watching football on the widescreen in the lounge.

Anyway that was yesterday -- the last thing from when the game ended (in the part that was "today" was the Giants kicked a field goal. At the time I had no clue why, but a few minutes they kicked another and the game ended with the Cowboys 2 points down. Cassandra was sad. John was happy. I was tired. I went to sleep.

Later today I stopped sleeping when I heard a sound I was pretty sure was caused by the folks in room 1608 trying to dig through the wall. Kind of a rumbly scraping sound. They would dig - then rest - then dig again. I laid there and listened. Grind, scrape grind, pause for twice as long as they were digging, then grind, scrape, grind.

Terrified that they were almost through the wall (the sound was getting REALLY close) I sprang from the bed and jumped over to where I could warn Loretta. As I approached her I saw her mouth open and the digging noise started. A moment later her mouth closed and the digging stopped.

When some people get ready to travel to another country they spend months, even years, learning a new language. Others spend a bunch of time shopping for cloths. I'm convinced Loretta spent her time learning new snoreing sounds so she could keep me guessing.

It's working.

Anyway I woke her up and suggested we clean up a bit and then go eat before our showers. It was a rainy day and a bit windy. The surf seemed to be about 3 and a half meters (I'm not allowed to say it in feet becasue they do metric system here but there is just under 4 feet in a meter so you can do the math if you need to).

During breakfast I chose chairs that looked out the window at the ocean. As we watched the big waves crashing into the beach we discussed the contrast of the extreme violence of being in front of the waves compared with the sea behind the break point.

I commented on the fact that NOBODY was in the water - it was just too wild and crazy. I explained that from my perspective a person would have to be crazy to go out there. Loretta thought for a moment and then said; "You know - we should go out there".

"Are you kidding? There is NO WAY I would go out there". "Come on!" Loretta coaxed "The best things in life are highly disturbing when they are happening - Life isn't a spectator sport! Sometimes you've got to grab the bull by the horns"

Well it took her over an hour to talk me into it but finally (and quite reluctantly) I agreed.

Somthing like that is all fun and games until you get run over by the first Mac truck (and let me tell you - when 40,000 kilos of water slams into you it's not unlike the Mac truck thing).

We let the first wave pass then rushed out trying to get to the break point before the second arrived. Turns out they were coming just too fast. The second crashed right in front of us and even though the water did a one hop before reaching us it was still easily twice our height when the spankings began.

For some reason I can't quite explain I took a deep breath as the wave approached and chose to let it out when the wave crashed in front of us and then took a new breath about the time we were covered in salt water.

"Oh crap!" I coughed and gagged "I can't do this".

"It's over - the wave is past" Loretta exclaimed "Get a good breath and come on - we can get farther out!" She grabbed my hand and started running toward the next mountanous wall of water as it formed a scant 20 meters away.

The next one hit us hard - well over our heads. We faltered but didn't fall down. When the water cleared I was in a near panic.

"This is too dangerous! I can't touch the bottom. The water is too deep. The waves are too big" I cried.

"First - it's not dangerous, you're just not used to it" she calmly told me "You probably could reach the bottom but your legs are currently wrapped around my waist and you are tearing my shirt off with both of your hands. If you climb down off of me and we move out another 15 meters we will be behind the break point and no more waves will hit us - it will just be swells"

"I can't - I'm too scared" I responded.

"Ok" she said "You've got a pretty significant life experience just coming out this far but are you sure you want to? You're just a few hundred centemeters from much more forgiving water"

"I've come this far but I'm really satisfied with my accomplishment to this point" I responded "Let's head back in"

We turned, took two steps and the next wave pushed us back to the beach.

As we walked back toward our waiting sandals Loretta explained that the best things in life are typically very troubling as they occur. She told me that two years from now when we talk about this vacation my episode with the waves would be one of my favorite memories. She promised it would all be worth it."

We scarcely made if off the beach before I realized she was probably right.

After the first wave experience we did some more in the water. I got some good rides in on the boogie board and when we were finally quite tired we headed back to the hotel to shower.

I was done showering and Loretta was most of the way through hers when Shane and Cassandra showed up.

We decided to go to Ipanema today but before that we went there we stopped at a Churrascaria (Brazilian BBQ - all you can eat meat) where we ate all we could and then quite a little bit more.

Next we walked by the kid's hotel so they could change their clothes (it was rainy and a bit nippy out) and then headed down the road.

We quickly decided to take a taxi. We piled in and I said "La Playa de Ipanema". The guy gave me a thumbs up and took off in the wrong direction. I believe he was going to go there by way of Venezula but I gave him the stink eye, thrust my thumb over my shoulder and explained that I knew where Ipanema was. He turned the cab around and stopped screwing around.

We walked along the shore for a while. The waves were twice the size of the ones in Copacabana. Very big. Very scary.

Next we walked back throught he shopping district of Ipanema. Loretta bought stuff. Cassandra bought stuff. I walked in the rain and got wet. Then something unexpected happened.

We walked by an open air drug store. In front of the drug store was a freezer full of ice-cream bars. Besides the ice-cream bars sat a little man on a stool.

Shane jumped over, stared into the freezer (it had a glass door on the top) and yelled (not to be confused with the word "said") "HI ICE-CREAM".

The little man jumped off his little stool and hit the ground running. He sprinted into the store and came back out with a key for the lock on the freezer.

Apparently Shane missed the little man when he decided to greet the ice-cream in this mannor. There was a short spot of confusion as Shane tried to explain that he didn't really want any ice-cream, he was just being friendly to it. Next the little man was trying to explain the meaning of gringo loco but he was speaking Portuguese so we never really figured it out.

Day 5 - Picture of the Day

Muy Loco e Mas Bueno





Hey - it wasn't just me...Loretta did it too.

Winning isn't Everything - Sometimes it's the Confusing Thing

After breakfast this morning Loretta and I walked to the little market that popped up in a parking lot a few blocks from here. Early on it was "Quanto Questa", "Cinquenta", "OK".

That was the south end. That was the beginning. That was before it changed.

The "Blog worthy" negotiation went like this:

Little Man "Very nice. Good quality. See picture? Very nice picture"
Loretta "Quanto Questa"
Little Man "Cinquenta"
Loretta "No!" (insert pause while the little man gets the stink eye) "Quanto Questa"
Little Man "Quarenta e cinco?"
Loretta "No. Mas daspico!"
The Little Man just shrugs.
Loretta "Vente"
The little man looks shocked. "Vente? Good quality. Worth more. Quarenta nenhum menos."
Loretta "No. Vente e cinco."
Little Man "25 is not enough." He holds up 4 fingers. "Quarenta"
Loretta goes right back into the ole stink eye and lets the tention build. The little man caves.
Little Man "Trienta e cinco" he crosses his arms across his chest and his jaw comes out as his face goes stone cold"
Loretta "Vente e cinco. No mas"
(insert long awkward silence here)
Little Man "Trienta?"
Loretta "No mas. Mas Dispacio. Vente e cinco"

The little man hangs his head and with a sad look quietly says "Sem" as he digs for a plastic bag. Loretta spins on her heel and starts to march away. I grab her by the back of her shirt. "Where are you going?" I ask. "Maybe someone else has one..."

"You won. It's over" I explan.

Loretta comes back, hands the guy 25 Reais and he gives her the beach blanket. The exchange obligodo and it's over.

As we walk away Loretta confides in me "I feel terrible! The little man looked so sad..."

Apparently the feeling didn't last because a short time later I realized a new baby shark had been born.

Day Four - Daily Blog

It started south of the equator slightly past seven in the morning. As a gentle hazy light peeked through the curtains the air filled with a sound, every bit as soothing as the fingernails on the blackboard. It would stop – a moment would pass and it would start again.

I was disoriented and confused. The bed was too small and I didn’t understand that noise.

Suddenly it changed to a softer buzz, more like a child’s toy. As my mind cleared, I looked toward the sound and saw Loretta, softly snoring as a small trickle of drool lightly moistened her pillow. She snorted like an old Brahma bull warning a trespasser to stay out of his field and repositioned her face so to take advantage of the moisturizing characteristics of the newly wetted pillow.

I repositioned my pillows and moved my head part of the way up the wall so my feet were only a meter or so past the end of the tiny bed. More comfortable now, I began to contemplate the great disturbance in the force that I could sense.

Sure enough, there was rustling beside me and the Velcro sound of Loretta un-sticking her face from the pillow as she rolled onto her back and began another “fingernails on the blackboard” iteration.

I lazily reached over, snagged the latest Presidential Agent Novel written by WEB Griffin and plugged back into the story as I waited the buzz saw in the other bed to come back to life.

An hour later fresh and clean from our morning showers we arrived in the executive lounge to grab a bite to eat. The kids arrived around 10:30 and after half an hour or so of Internet interactions in the executive lounge, we were off on another adventure.

First there were the car negotiations. My initial plan was to take a taxi to the train station, jump the train to Corcovado (thus maximizing our opportunity to see monkeys), spend some time up there, take the train back down, snag a new cab to Sugarloaf, do our thing there and then catch a cab back to the hotel.

I figured we would spend a little over 120 Reai on taxis plus what it cost to visit the two land marks. This seemed a more reasonable approach because a “tour” (tour being you and 17 of your closest strangers mashed into a 12 passenger van) to Corcovado was $175 Reai per person. Sugarloaf was more like $150 each. The combined tour (where you got waffle imprints on your butt from sitting on the little fellow from Paraguay for so long) were around $250 Reai so if we could beat $1000 we should be in good shape.

Before reaching the cab I learned it was going to set us back $45 Reai each to ride the train to Corcovado. I already figured a cab fare to be around $35 each way so I negotiated $200 Reai (about $27.50 USD per person) for him to take all of us to the top, wait for us while we played then to Sugarloaf, wait for us again, and then back to the hotel.

As it worked out the cabbie knew maybe 7 words in English, had a pretty good working knowledge of Spanish, and could talk really fast in Portuguese. He played tour guide and pointed out land marks like the Palace where the royals lived when Rio was the capital of Portugal (now the governor lives there). We in turn informed him that seeing monkeys was very important to us, Shane had two dogs, and then we accidentally said the magic words.

Making small talk in broken Spanish we brought up the subject of Futball (Soccer) and suddenly the guy turned into Mark Carey (and like Mark – he became a family friend). He was a single guy and his life consisted of three (count them three) things. Playing Futball, driving the cab, and watching Futball.

Shane explained that he worked for a professional sports team and the cabbie quickly moved up the “I have affection for your scale” from Mark Carey to John Cavanaugh. Now the guy was family. He found our monkey (and Loretta butchered an opportunity for a once in a life time picture), took us all the places we agreed upon (as well as a few others that were not negotiated) and performed off the books freebies like stopping at "Lizardville" where we snagged some pictures that I'm sure Mandy will adore.

We saw the Christ the Redeemer statue, we attempted to traumatize Cassandra with the cable car up sugar loaf mountain (failed misurably on that one - turns out that she's fearless, even around things that scare her) and made it back to the hotel in time for happy hour and snacks.

The day couldn't decide if it was clear or cloudy which turned out to be quite a nice experience. Not only did it save us $600 Reai on helecopter rides, but it gave some unique looks at the different mountains around Rio. Somtimes it was clear, then an entire mountain range would disappear.

We were on top of Sugarloaf mountain at a little cafe. Shane and Cassandra were drinking a coke while Loretta and I were eating ice-cream...and it happened.

Was it the presence of the holy spirit? Was it a miracle? Perhaps we will never know but the giant white cloud that was blocking the statue moved to the left, a little breeze came up and I snapped the picture. At the time I though I was just wasting bits on a picture that wouldn't matter but upon closer review I think I might have captured something devine as I saw a sigh that suggested the man on the right had Jesus in his heart (or at least on the top of his head).

It was, as they say, a good day…but it wasn’t over.

The cabbie dropped us off at the hotel. We said our teary good-byes, took some pictures of him for the family album, then ran inside to clean up. We put on our boogie shoes and headed down town to do the night club district.\

Our goal was three-fold. First, I wanted to introduct my kids and sister to Sylvia, an old friend from Rio. Second, Loretta wanted to try the cachaca, and finally - we needed to teach Loretta to do the Samba.

We accomplished all three things. Had a nice dinner. Did the "young and chick" scene in Rio and still made it to bed by 1 a.m.

It was a good day in South America for all of us.

...And this one for Mandy...

On our trip up Corcovado we saw this guy. He was about the size of my grand-dog Maggie. That must be why I thought of my little daughter (and took this picture just before my mean sister chased it away)

Day 04 - Picture of the Day

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, (Revelation 14:14)

Rio Day Three

He checked and rechecked the numbers but it always came out the same. The news was so disturbing that he couldn't eat...and he usually loved to eat. As he picked up the phone to call the emergency meeting the same thought kept running through his mind "The meaning is obvious. If the depth of the Atlantic ocean truly did drop by nearly an inch then maybe the whole global warming thing wouldn't sell anymore".

Where would he get his money in the future? Who would buy his movie? Al Gore was nervous, perhaps even panic stricken. How was he going to spin this one?

Two hours later, as the sun gently kissed the Copacabana beach, Cassandra Crawford dragged her self from the foamy surf. The waves had not been kind to her or her husband. Twenty minutes earler she proudly watched as her husband strapped the velcro safty line to his wrist, tightly gripped the boogie board with both hands and launched himself into the massive humps of water that would soon be breaking waves. Moments later she helplessly peered in rapt horror as Shane came over the crest of the breaking wave and violently altered a famous Beach Boys song.

A snappy melody of "Catch a wave and your head auggers down in the sand" played in her mind as Shane went completely vertical as he made a 90 degree turn off the breaking wave. His face and the front edge of the board striking the sand at the same moment, Shane contorted into "Backwards clam man". Cassandra grimaced, feared the worst, hoped for the best and then got leveled by a giant wave.

This was the fun they paid all that money and traveled all those miles to experience.

About that time Shane emerged from the depths, gladly relinquished the boogie board to his father (who quickly learned how to do the wave crest pile driver manouver himself) and escourted his waterlogged wife back to the beach chairs generiously provided by the JW Marriott.

As Cassandra leaned forward to adjust the towel which covered her chair she experienced something that was totally unprecidented in her life experience. A suddent torrent of water began gushing from her nose. A river began to form at her feet and rush across the beach back into the Atlantic slowly bringing the level of the ocean back to a level sufficient to rekindle the raging debate about global warming.

Somewhere, thousands of miles away, Al Gore breathed a sigh of relief as back in Rio Cassandra found she could breath much better without a percentage of the Atlantic waters packed into her sinus cavities.

More to come.....

Day Three Picture of the Day

We chose two pictures of the day for day three. We spent some time on the beach so we chose beach pictures. This first one, taken by Loretta shows me just before a wave decided to tear my cloths off.

The second is of Loretta appearing to have a "gentle" interaction with a wave. Actually it wasn't that tame. A scant 15 seconds later the wave swept Loretta's legs out from under her and she did the "under ater meatball roll" and then flopped at my feet, face down in the muck.

Day Two Picture of the Day

Here's the picture from the first day. We took it on the roof (because that's where we spent most of our time). Zoom in and read the bubble above Loretta's head.

Maggie Would be Proud

Loretta and I were riding the elevator up to the room so we could change into beach cloths. At about the 11th floor I threw a candy wrapper and hit my little sister in the face.

After bouncing off her nose the paper fell to the floor. I suggested Loretta pick it up so someone else wouldn't have to.

(Retta is bugging me now because she's ready to go to the beach so I'll jump to the bottom line)

...my little sister picked the paper up as the doors started to open, 16 floors up. Then, in an unchaeristic move she stuffed the candy wrapper in the crack between the elevator and the hallway floor.

As the paper dropped the 16 floors into it's new permanant residence I exclaimed "Well THAT was nothing like you. Maggie would be proud!"

Rio Day Two

By design we did pretty much nothing yesterday (Thursday). Wednesday we were all pretty wiped after 20 hours of travel (and for me at least the travel started following a full work day) so prior to bed (which came at 8:30 PM we all agreed that Thursday was designated a "do nothing" day.

We interupt this blog for the following important message: Google seems to have thought of everthing. They thought I would tell you stories so they made a blogging site. They thought I would need an editor to work in so they created a set of tools with little words to help me with my tasks. They thought I suck as spelling so they gave me a spell checker. They thought they could look at my internet address and know where I was so they made all the labels and tools and spell checker work in Portuguese. Oops!

Now back to our exciting blog. (and Lexi - why aren't you printing these and taking them to my dad)

So the day started at about 6:10 when I woke up. Loretta was quietly snoring out a rendition of "The Girl from Ipanema" as I went to the window to watch the early morning beach joggers. I got my book and started reading.

After a couple of paragraphs Loretta work up. "Why are you reading your book out loud" she asked. "Sorry. I didn't know the words to the song so..."

Next was the morning "gee you smell - maybe you should take a shower ritual" followed by the "Let's eat strange things for breakfast" required "Papia good, mango bad" montra. Unfortunately my little sister got it wrong and decideds she likes Mango. Go figure.

We sat in the executive lounge for an hour or two. Ate things, watched folks on the beach, drank coffee (actually I drank coffee, Loretta made me explain why I drank coffee because I typically don't)

Did I mention that the coffee here is the best in the world (as judged by someone who virtually never drinks coffee)?

Anywho the next thing we did was go upto the roof (where the pool lives).

(Time for me to take a shower - I'll turn the keybord over to Loretta for a different perspective)

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The hotel is awesome, we had breakfast in the lounge and it was great....well, I tried Brie cheese for the first time and that was disgusting, but everything else was good. I also tried fresh Mango for the first time and I think I like it quite well.

We are on the 16th floor so we have a great view and I watched a group of people do their morning yoga on the beach. We can also see ships coming in and some just wait out in the harbor, waiting to be loaded or whatever.

We've done alot of walking which is good because you get to see a things you wouldn't normally see if you we're riding in a car. One thing I've noticed is very popular here is "buffets", they have them everywhere and you go in grab a plate and load it with food and then they weight it and you pay by the Kilo.

Jim and I tried Beef Tongue and it actually was quite good. They also have a lot of juice stands/shops called Sucos and Jim and I had an Abacaxi (which is pineapple) It was yummy. Oh, I also tried Papaya and it pretty much tasted like cleaning fluid. I have to say the pineapple here though is probably the best I've ever had. Well gotta run for now...

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I'm back. I'm out of the shower. I'm free of sand and salt water after the beach but that's today and today is tomorrow from the perspective of yesterday which is where we are in the blogsphere...but I digress.

So Loretta and I went to the roof to sit by the pool and read our books. First I sat and Loretta read while I read and Loretta sat. Next we both sat and read. Finally I sat, Loretta read while I read and Loretta sat.

I suppose the high point of all that was when the hang glider went over not too far above us and we captured the picture of the day. Unfortunately we got it with Loretta's camera and currently have no way to get that picture to a computer. Go figure. An adapter will be part of our quest this afternoon.

Shane and Cassandra showed up a bit after noon and sat with us by the pool for a while. When sufficient time had passed so someone could claim hunger we went on a quest for a resturaunt. We ate in one that sold the food by weight. It was a bit over 3 Reai per 100 grams. We tried cow tongue (first time for me and Loretta tried it too). It scored a double thumbs up. Loretta did a big thumbs down for Papia. We both ate some vegatable thing that was completely unknown. Imagine an okra that was about 50% bigger around than a banana. That was this stuff. It wasn't gross but I don't think either of us will seek it out again.

Finally I got up and scored some coco e abacaxi cake that was good enough that Cassandra went on the same quest and got some too (after sampling mine).

Next we went on a quest for two items. Cassandra wanted a futball jersey and I was looking for a boogie board (yesterday we learned that they wanted $50 reai a day to rent one - I wanted to compare).

I found (and bought) a boogie board in the jersey shop for $80 (about $40). I figured this way I could practice all week for less than two days rental. Cassandra came up dry on the shirt.

Later that day Shane found (and purchased) a futball shirt for Cassandra (it said Kaka on the back so I can only assume the number belonged to a crappy player).

That was about it for the day (I told you the goal was to pretty much do nothing - I think we pulled it off)

Rio Day One -

We got here noon yesterday but the day was all business. Checking into hotels, checking hotels out, getting a feel for the surrounding area, getting some local currency, finding food. That kind of thing.

The flight here was uneventful (for Loretta and I anyway). Shane and Cassandra took a wrong turn in the Sao Paulo airport and accidentally went through immigration (when they should have just gone to their connecting gate for Rio). I guess they freaked the airline people out some when they disappeared half way through the trip but I can't write that story here because, well, it could be considered hear-say in many courts.

We (back to Retta and I) flew in on a flagship 777 which is, in my never to be humble opinion, the best long haul aircraft that American flies. It has computers in the seats with a wide movie selection and business class is better than first class on a 767.

I watched 2.5 movies. X-Men Woverine, Yes Man, and the first half of "The Proposal". I decided I wanted to see the end of "The Proposal but couldn't seem to talk the flight crew into taking another lap before landing so I guess I'll have to wait.

Once we got here we had no issues with immigration or getting into Copacabana. The Marriott is treating us well and upgraded our room to a corner ocean view room on the top floor. Shane and Cassandra are in a different hotel (this one is a bit spendy) about 4 blocks down the beach but they too have a ocean view room.

Yesterday we went to a buffet place where you pay for your lunch by the kilo and then took a walk to Ipenema beach and watched the surfers for a while. Cassandra negotiated with a street vendor for a while and purchased one of those purses made out of a zipper. Asking price $20. Purchase price $8 (this is all in Reais which are worth about 55 cents each so she spent a touch over four bucks).

We stopped in a surf shop to inquire prices on renting surf boards, boogie boards and such. We all plan to do the boogie board thing, I really need to get up on a surf board at least once to put a knife through the heart of that demon, and I think at least Cassandra (clearly the surfing champion among us in Hawaii) wants to try surfing on waves bigger than ankle high.

Finally we walked back to the hotel, had the free happy hour snacks in the executive lounge. The kids are practicing for when they are old and Loretta and I are acting like we really are old so everyone was in bed by 7:30 pm.

Nothing like staying up all night to make sleepy time come a touch early.

6000 Miles South - Picture of the day

We are about 6000 miles south of home. We're in Rio De Janeiro Brazil. The keyboards down here have many wrong keys are are hard to use. The kids (Shane and Cassandra) were supposed to get to Sao Paulo about 3 hours earlier than us. Unfortunately they zigged when they should have zagged and missed the turn to make the Rio flight. Instead they went through immigration and ended up outside the airport in Sao Paulo. Good thing they had those extra hours. They got to the gate about 10 minutes before we did.

Any way all went well. Both hotel rooms are nice. Loretta and I got upgraded so we're on the 16th floor on a beach front room. Not much happened today (beyond travel). My step counter is currently at 20.226. It feels like I walked to Brazil! More tomorrow when I haven't been up all night and can actually think.

This is the view out my motel room window.

What a World

I came in from my shop where I had just put the finishing touches on the elevator I built so my wife wouldn't have to carry boxes up and down the stairs. I put the bread my son-in-law brought me into the oven and walk into the living room.

I hear talking, look over, and see that Michelle's computer is invading the living-room of my son's house 2000 miles away from here. On the left side there is a window with the TV-Show "Man vs Wild" playing on it. The right side of the screen displays Shane's dogs laying on the carpet and the bottom of Shane's leg.

I click on the arrows and adjust the web cam so I can see Shane and Cassandra sitting on the couch (the dogs were asleep and boring). Apparently Cassandra hears the whir of the motor as I re-direct the web cam. I then click an icon on the screen and a remote control pops up. I click on the pause button on the remote control and the TV show stops.

Shane looks directly into my video display on the monitor and asks "Why did you pause it?". I restart the program, open a chat window and type in that I walked into the living room and found the setup on Michelle's computer and wanted to see if the show was the same one they were watching.

I don't think my parents checked up on me like that when I moved into my first house.....

Doomed to Repeat History

At some point in the not to distant past I wrote and entry here or on my blog page. I made a reference about being nervous about how our President seemt to miss some of the lessons that history has taught us.

My mother responded (in email rather than a comment) and asked:

Question: in your statement re "his disregard for history" What do you mean? please explain

Following is my observation: -

1928 the stock market takes an amazing rise - faster than the rest of the economy. Companies are building like crazy.August

1929. The bubble is too big. A recession begins. Auto sales are down and construction drops off significantly.

October 1929 - The stock market crashes.

1930 & 31 - Fed slashes the prime rate in an attempt to get things going. People start electing Democrats. Unemployment grows into double digits.

1932 - The Fed starts printing money. Tax rates are increased in an effort to get the "rich" to pay for more programs (and "create" jobs).

1933 - Roosevelt decides to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. He also starts spending all kinds of money trying to fix the economic problems.

===== Meanwhile in another part of the world ======
Germany is spending money that it doesn't have (like crazy). It finaced WW1 with deficite spending. It was forced to pay retrubution after the war resulting in more spending (without matching tax increases). The result was the country went into hyper inflation that continued until they invaded Poland in 1939....

Side Note: A bit over 40 years later the folks in Brazil failed to consider history and repeated the German mistake (which caused hyper inflation) again by deficite spending and expanding their money supply. From 1980 to 1994 they proved, once again, that if you choose to spend and not match the spending with increased taxes your economy is doomed. -- Now back to our regularly scheduled review of history in the 30's...
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Unemployment never gets out of double digits and the crappy economy continues right up to the time when Germany invades Poland to start the 2nd world war.The war pretty much wipes out everyone but the USA and we emerge as the worlds only economic super power.-----

Now let's compare and contrast that with current day events -----

In March of this year Obama gave the thumbs up and the Fed monitized a trillion in debt - yet the government continues to spend money we don't have at record levels. In an effort to keep taxes low (for now) they are borrowing or monitizing all this debt.

History tells us that move is a fools game and we can't win. George Bush started this Government folley when he increased our federal spending by nearly 800 billion dollars annually.

Obama has upped the ante and out spent Bush's stupidity by 125% in his first hundred days! Bush increased the national debt by 2.5 trillion (funding wars and such) during his 8 year term.

Barak has already committed to spending $4.9 trillion more than we will take in over the next 6 years (and that doesn't touch the cost of nationalized health care).

It seems to me that Barak is making the historically proven wrong choices of Roosevelt, Germany and Brazil. Last time it took a major war (and millions of deaths) to end the mess.

What are we willing to sacrafice this time?

10 Experiences that Shaped Me: 8 - Taekwondo Black Belt

At some point while going through years of training in martial arts you are sure to hear the phrase "A black belt isn't something you earn, it is something you become".

After a great deal of time in the karate studio taking lessons 5 days a week I spent a good part of a year on the tournament trail. Every weekend started with an early exit from work on Friday night followed by a trip to another city. Some were by car to neighboring states like Arkansas, Louisiana or Kansas. Others were by airplane to states far away like Florida, or Illinois. Once I even competed at a tournament in another country.

I learned a number of things in my quest for a black belt. I learned that a spin heel kick looks cool when Mel Gibson does it in the movies, but when I do it in a sparing match it will send my sparring partner to the hospital.

I learned that when the referee yells "BREAK!" the fighting is supposed to stop but if you let your guard down without being sure your opponent has stopped you might not be able to eat anything but soup for a week or so.

I learned that the folks who fight me every week in the tournaments respect my fade away reverse side kick as an exit strategy but people who just spar casually in class can get broken ribs from it so I need to be careful to understand my opponent.

The day before the picture above was taken I learned that if a black belt kicks low it's wise to block low but don't make the mistake of not being ready to block high when he changes the kick because if you don't block there is nothing to keep his big toe from going into your eye.

None of those things, however are the take away that got Taekwondo on the list.

My goal when I started taekwondo was to get a black belt. My goal when I started doing tournaments was to win a state championship. After a boat load of trophies including one for 2nd in sparring at nationals, I lost the state championship and ended up in 2nd place.

The guy who beat me was just plain better than I was. He was younger (about 9 years) and faster and more fit. We drove each other all season long and forced each other to achieve so much more than either of us would have achieved individually. We met in the final tournament of the year tied for first place. He beat me to take the championship but when the season ended we had triple the points of the third place finisher and more total points than everyone else (number 3 - 10) combined.

I put a picture on the wall of him and I shaking hands after the match with a caption that says "When your very best just isn't good enough".

The take away is that losing is OK if you take your best shot. No matter what happens, your best is still good enough. It's all you have. One should NEVER choose not to compete or live an experience just because they might lose. Losing is so much better than not playing.

Top 10 Experiences that Shaped Me (#10 - Celtics #17)

If you read #2 above, you know that when I was a young whipper snapper I told my dad that I would one day climb devils tower. He told me it wasn't going to happen and about a decade later I proved him wrong.

My kid (the male of the species) was always crazy into sports. At some point in his youth someone asked him what he was going to be when he grew up and he explained that when he grew up he was going to be in the NBA.

Being a practical parent I explained the odds of such a thing and gave him all the reasons why it just wouldn't happen.

About a decade later I took this picture:

The picture was taken at the Celtics team party after game 6 where the Celtics won their 17th national championship. I watched the NBA final from a seat I never would have gotten and attended the after party in a the part of the stadum where I wouldn't have been allowed to go if my son had not just earned this ring:

Besides being a refresher in the lesson that taught me that there are no limits beyond those that are self imposed, I learned that you can get older and slow down a bit but continue to collect experiences through your children. There's a massive pay off in that. Very nice indeed

10 Experiences that Shaped Me (9 - Seven Continants)

09) Seven Continents - We traveled a bit prior to landing in Wyoming (where I grew up). I was born in upstate New York and while I was still pre-school age we moved to Saudi Arabia. I returned from Arabia and ended up in Wyoming. Coming out of college I decided I would set a goal to visit every state except North Dakota. The way I saw it, there are plenty of people who visit every state but how many pick one state to never set foot in - and let's face it, if you're going to skip one it has to be North Dakota.

Michelle and I celebrated our 49th and final state around the time of our 20th anniversary when we spent a long weekend at a bed-and-breakfast in West Virginia. Once you knock off all the states, what's a logical next goal?

That would explain "Why" seven continents but it doesn't share how my travels have shaped my life. Here's the life changing take away from my world travels: People everywhere care about the same things we do. They care about getting ahead. They want to have enough to eat, a good place to sleep, and a better life for their children than they have for themselves. They want peace and happiness. They want quality time with their families. I've spent hours talking to folks from Iran and I understand that they are good people. I adore the Chinese, Arabs, Indians and Hispanics. Here in the US we have so many inaccurate attitudes about folks over seas and I wish everyone could hang out with people from Pakistan, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia like I have. I can still disagree with their politics but once you meet the people you criticism gets a bit softer.

The other life changing take away is I have a perspective on how good we have it here. You can't properly appreciate the fact that you are more wealthy than over 99% of the folks alive until you've visited the other countries. I'm not saying we are happier, in my experience we really aren't in the top 30% of happy but we're crazy rich.

Last year when gas got up around $3 per gallon I saw the blessing travel has been in her life. Everyone around us was angry about the prices and what they had to do without and she shrugged and said

"Emily rides a bus 90 minutes each way to work every day. There are so many people on the bus that she never gets to sit down - I'm not sure I've earned the right to complain about the price of gas"

That's the kind of thing traveling the world does for you. Here's a few pictures from places we've been...

North America - I'm not going to spend much time here because if you're reading this you probably a bit familiar with this one already so instead I'll share the picture I chose for this continent.

I flew Shane to Detroit for the last game in Tiger Stadium. The week after this picture was taken they began to tear the stadium (one of the oldest in the country down)

South America - This is a picture of my wife and I at the base of Corcovado (a fairly well known statue in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil). Two things really impressed me about Brazil - first, it wasn't like Mexico or Central America. It was much more like Europe. Second - they have crazy lots of food down there and it's all really nicely priced.
Rio has edged out San Francisco as my favorite city in the world. The people are wonderful and they love to play (kind of like the folks in Denver never seem to figure out that they are getting older). We're flying back down there for a vacation next week (my Son and his wife are meeting me in Sao Paulo).

Asia

Here's a picture of my daughter Mandy and I on the great wall of China. I have very strong feelings about the Asian people (if one can stereotype all those countries into one group). Foremost is that they are hard working folks but they haven't become so self centered as we have in the USA. Next, they are much more respectful than folks in most other places. As far as China goes - the biggest thing from there is that if you live here and travel there - you get to be a rock star. I always say that everyone who goes to China is a rock star. There just aren't that many Caucasian folks in China and when they see one they are quite interested. I bet 150 people took out picture the month that Mandy and I were playing there

Africa - It's easy to underestimate Africa. The northern part is north like Washington DC is north. The southern part is so close to the South Pole that they have penguins there. The culture of the world has been influenced and changed by folks from that continent (I visited the Great Library and churches started by the apostle Luke when I was there)

...and for those of you who were wondering - riding a camel is MUCH WORSE than being horse back (they are really lumpy in the middle).

Europe - It was hard to choose a picture to represent Europe. Mandy took one of me at the finish line for the Tour De France that I liked, there are some heart wrenching photos I brought back from concentration camps in Belgium, some really nice canal pictures from Amsterdam and many of my favorites from the castle that overlooks Heidelberg Germany.


I finally chose this one for two reasons. First - there is stuff people might recognize from that big island that's just off the coast but most importantly because I got this pretty girl to stand besides me (and who wouldn't want people to see you in a picture with a specimen as fine as that!).

Australia - I have this really cool picture of me laying under a tree besides a kangaroo that is taller than I am (longer might be a better word choice - we were laying down so who's tall?) but I chose this one by the Opera house in Sydney.

I really didn't spend much time in Sydney but I was in Adelaide for nearly a month and I must say they have some amazing folks living down there. I didn't meet anyone that I wouldn't want to spend time with while I was there.

Antarctica - No pictures from here (yet). This is number seven and I'm currently saving up for the trip. The plan is for Mandy and I go go down there summer after next (January or February of 2011) and spend a couple of weeks freezing our little hoovies to the quick.

10 Experiences that Shaped Me (1 & 2)

These are not in any order related to importance - it's all chronological. Oldest to newest. They were posted (for quite a while) on the right side of the web page and I was going to write a story about each but that seems to be taking more time and I'm going to change the list so I thought I would do a quick summary of each.

01) Student Body Vice President (High School) - I figured out a great deal about how people operate and what some of the magic around "the popular" kids as college was starting but I was really not in that crowd in high school. I was probably one of the best known and more popular kids in college (small college) and I think the transition to that point in time started when I ran for student body vice president.

02) Climbing Devils Tower - I'm actually working on that story now and it will likely post before too long. When I was in the 3rd grade my father took me to see the Devils Tower and I said "Some day I'm going to climb that". My dad simply said "No you aren't".

My Sr. year of High School I began growing a significant new self confidence and the summer following graduation my friend Dennis Clark and I decided to climb the tower. If was July of 1976, I have a horrible fear of heights and let me tell you, that fear did not go unchallenged.

There were two things that made the tower climb significant in my life (looking back, it is one of the most significant events - probably #1 or #2 on this list).

First, since that climb I have never considered something to be out of reach (my father believed it was and that's the reason he said I would never climb the tower). The transition from group think with all the sane/reasonable folks to this "nothing is impossible" attitude has made me a completely different person.

Second, I learned that the best accomplishments in life cost you. I mentioned earlier that I have a fear of heights. I'm talking nausea, light headed when I get up 25 feat kind of a fear. This was probably the most terrifying thing I have ever done. Every step and hand hold required discipline and concentration to help swallow the fear. Since that time I have jumped out of an airplane (with a parachute of course) and gotten an FAA Instructor rating but I've never experienced fear like I had climbing the tower. At the time I was just dying to finish the challenge and get the nightmare to end but since than it has become one of my fondest memories. Since that time the experience has been the inspiration that has led me through some of the darkest times of my life. Every thing that is hard has a payoff at the other end. Everything. Learning that gives you the ability to become so much more that you were destined to be.

5 + 3 = 8

Yesterday we went and saw "UP" for the second time. The first time we watched the movie Michelle cried 5 times (one was the blubbering, make your popcorn soggie, kind). Yesterday my friend David was taking his brother in law, nieses and nephews so we tagged along. Michelle cried three more times. For those who havn't seen the movie yet - it's a cartoon. I wonder what she would have done in a REAL story?

X - 16

It's been six weeks since I started. Here's the progress so far. I went out to lunch today and just had a vegetable plate. There once was a time when I watched people do that and thought
"who would pass up the Chicken Fried Steak for that?"

Now I guess I know.

My Grandkids Will Speak Chinese (or Hindi)

We decided to go to see the Transformers movie (it's a 20 minute movie that they run in a loop for three and a half hours). On the way there we stopped at Walgreens. I made my purchase selections, went to the check out register, and the young girl behind the counter informed me that $2.70 was due to complete the transaction. I handed her a five.

After forfeiting the bill my hand dropped to my side and I felt change in my pocket. I reached inside and found the appropriate coins, pulled them out and announced "I have 70 cents!".

"I'm sorry, it's too late" the young lady responded. I've already put five dollars in the computer. I dropped the coins on the counter and said "Ah! But this way you can give me three singles".

A bit perplexed she looked at the register, turned to give me a "Oh you poor, stupid man" gaze, and pointed at the digital read out.

"I can only give you two dollars and thirty cents".

"Well, if you take these two quarters and these two dimes" I said as I picked up the coins and offered them to her "you could give me three one dollar bills and I would have something I could fold in my pocket".

"That won't work. You should have told me earlier. The computer knows you gave me five dollars and it says I have to give you two dollars and thirty cents".

I can't write anymore. The memory is just too painful.

Sausage is Radio Controlled Airplanes

I have a title for the book I'm writing. It will be called "Sausage is Radio Controlled Airplanes"

I've been making quite a bit of sausage lately. In the last 3 months it's safe to say that I've processed over 100 pounds of homemade sausage. I just finished a new batch.

Just before I started this iteration I went to Northern Tool where I scored a new 5 pound sausage press. I'm not sure if sausage nirvana truly exists, but after my three earlier attempts, this new press gets me closer to that utopic state than anything else I've experienced -- but I digress.

I never spend over $1.00 a pound for the meat that goes into my sausage. That's one of the rules. Once I add the cost for the spices and other ingredients

and factor in the cost of the casings I probably run around $1.30 to $1.50 per pound (the fat free stuff probably runs higher because it has more waste).

The other day we were talking about the "cost" of a pound of the stuff I'm creating. I was comparing it to the store where sausage typically starts at around $2.50 per pound and goes up from there. At some point in the discussion Michelle said "With all the money you spend on the equipment it would take more sausage than we could ever eat to reach the breakeven point - I wonder if it would just be easier and smarter to just get it at the grocery.

Mandy turned, looked at her and exclaimed "Mom, you don't understand! Sausage is radio controlled airplanes!". Suddenly Michelle understood perfectly and the more I thought about it the more I knew she was right. So right, in fact, that she gave me the title for the book I'm currently writing.

Truth be told, the book I'm writing is radio controlled airplanes too. Just as it was when I flew Mandy to China so we could walk on the great wall together. When Dennis and I climbed Devils tower, when I got my black belt in Taekwondo, when I jumped out of an airplane, and when a giant fish swallowed my arm 90 feet below the surface of the ocean off the coast of Mexico, it was radio controlled airplanes. It's my life philosophy. I truly believe that even more than the number 47, "sausage is radio controlled airplanes" is the meaning of life.

Yesterday (or the day before but who cares) my friend Joe announced he had created a TV antenna using wood, duct tape, coat hangers and aluminum foil. I responded by suggesting you can get an antenna at Radio Shack for next to nothing and asked him how much he thought his time was worth. My friend Dennis quickly replied and said "It's sausage".

I got two things from that. First, Joe built the antenna not because he was too cheap to buy one - it was never about the money - it was about accomplishing something. Second (and probably much more importantly) it's easier to say something is "Sausage" than to say it's "Radio Controlled Airplanes" (and the transitive property of equality makes the decision to use either completely acceptable).

There's a right and wrong way to live your life. It works like this. When I was quite young I was very impressed with radio controlled airplanes. I hoped that one day I would be able to build and fly one myself. There were two reasons behind this. On one hand not many people build an airplane that actually flies. On the other hand, it would be cool to actually experience the process of using a box of wood and a set of plans to create a genuine flying airplane. I imagined the feeling of watching it roll down the runway, lift into the air, do a number of maneuvers and safely return to earth would be extraordinary. Something to be cherished and savored.

When I was dreaming the dream of flying an RC plane there was just no way I was going to make it happen. In those days the total out of pocket cost of building and flying such a machine was well over a thousand dollars (and my first job after college was paying me a gross wage of under $800 per month). Accomplishments of that scale required a great deal of saving and waiting.

Shortly after college graduation, and with the support of my new wife, I bought my first RC aircraft kit. It was a Sig Cadet and the kit was around $35. I handed over another $150 for an engine, $675 for a used 4 channel radio, another hundred or two for accessories like control links, gas tank, wheels, propellers, fuel, engine starter, film to cover the fuselage and wings, etc. Hundreds of hours and about a year and a half of calendar time later it was ready to fly. I found an RC club where I could get some lessons, spent a number of hours learning how it works and finally accomplished the dream of my first RC solo.

Once I accomplished the goal, I more or less lost interest. My fancy turned to scuba diving or photography or disc golf or hunting rattle snakes or any one of a hundred other things I've tried across the span of my life.

Now I know there are others who learn to fly an RC plane and then spend decades becoming the perfect RC pilot, all the time dreaming of one day winning a national competition, but that's not what works for me. I like to go into a new experience at 100 miles an hour and learn all about it. I like to develop a skill set that makes me "above average" and then I like to move on to the next thing.

Cost isn't really a guiding factor. That's not to say that the cost isn't important because money drives our ability (or inability) to accomplish many of our goals. My son-in-law wants to own a viper (the car, not a snake) and I'm sure my daughter (who totally gets my trophy case life philosophy) would have given him one if cost wasn't important. The thing about cost is that it doesn't need keep you from finding the next experience and adding it to your trophy case. Some experiences (like building that antenna) can be an instant decisions. Others, like my current plan to visit Antarctica, take some planning, saving, and time.

The important point is that you get out there and make sausage. Too many people spend their lives going to work, coming home, eating, watching 4 hours of TV, going to bed, and then starting another iteration of the same thing the next day.

That is such a waste. Take a moment to determine what your radio controlled airplane is, and go make some sausage!